BRUSSELS –Belgian national Alain Libens (33) has been sentenced to a life-long penalty of forced labour by a Greek court after trying to smuggle 10 kilos of cannabis into Greece. The dealers he was working for in Belgium were sentenced here to a maximum of five years in prison.

Until three years ago Alain Libens was working as a waiter near Liege. He said he couldn’t refuse the lucrative offer of EUR 3,000 in exchange for bringing 10 kilos of cannabis to Athens.

Two accomplices were able to get by Greek customs authorities, Alain was caught. He has been held in a high-security prison near Athens since June 2004.

A year after his arrest he was sentenced to a 50,000-euro fine and life-long forced labour. The suppliers who were behind the shipment were sentenced a year later to three to five years in prison, not by Greek authorities but by Belgian ones.

“A big difference from my penalty,” Alain says. His appeal case will be heard in November. “I am begging the Greek authorities to transfer me to Belgium.”

[Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news